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Jim Thorpe, in front of a packed house on its east side, got to play at its pace and put on a show in a much anticipated bout against Panther Valley. The Olympians used a second half burst and outlasted the Panthers 65-51 in a key Schuylkill League Division I contest Friday night.

Both squads came out with a fury to begin the ball game, but it was the Panthers that drew first blood attacking the Olympians, starting off the game on a 6-0 run. Jim Thorpe then turned to undersized spark plug Dean Dibonifazio, who struck back at the Panthers, hitting back to back three-pointers to begin the fireworks display that would be the first half.

Panther Valley kept up on the offensive end, mostly through senior center Logan Stano. Stano scored 9 of his team-high 15 points in the first. The Olympians, however, instilled a 1-2-2 full court zone press that quieted the Panthersand gave the Olympians a two point lead at the end of the first and a four point advantage at the half.

"We practice this type of defense all the time, and we knew that our guards could harass them with our traps," said Jim Thorpe coach Brian Carroll. "We wanted to get them to play at our pace, and we told our kids we needed to play above the 60-point total to pull off the win".

The game stayed close still in the third but once again the Olympians' full-court pressure gave the Panthers fits. The key momentum shift came with just 32 seconds left in the quarter when Rashid Epps jumped in front of a Panther pass and went coast to coast for a high flying jam, sending the Olympian crowd into a frenzy. Epps led the Olympians with 20 points, and the play put Jim Thorpe up 44-39.

"I thought we did a pretty good job of attacking...we just didn't make the best decisions once we broke their press," said Panther Valley coach Pat Crampsie. "As a team we have really cut down on our turnovers, they just came at the most inopportune times and that really hurt us."

Sam Lux and Corey Cinicola each chipped in with 15 and 13 points respectively for Jim Thorpe, while Brock Mitchell had 12 for the Panthers.